


Game Over

by HannaM



Category: Nameless: The one thing you must recall
Genre: Breaking the Fourth Wall, Gen, Time Loop
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-25
Updated: 2018-12-25
Packaged: 2019-09-26 22:12:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 850
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17150012
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HannaM/pseuds/HannaM
Summary: He’s been waiting so long, it’s only natural to be impatient, he thinks.Surely that’s the reason the days crawl by at an excruciating pace until they inevitably rewind. And perhaps it’s understandable, too, that the person guiding Eri’s actions is, well…Stupid.





	Game Over

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ghostflora](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ghostflora/gifts).



_So it will be Lance,_ he thinks at the start of the game when Eri chooses him to accompany her to school. _Lance_ again when  
she neglects Yeonho.  
  
But then she eats where there are lots of people instead of going to eat in a place where Lance might approach her. And takes Yuri’s gift of a phone. And offers herself to the school nurse instead of explicitly saving Lance. And buys _carrot cake_ which can’t possibly be a gift for Lance.  
  
“This is kind of funny,” he remarks. “You don’t want to part soon then?” He pauses. “Hmm. Alright. I won’t tear down your memories just yet. Not just yet.” He laughs  
  
And then, just as he’s starting to think perhaps it will be Yeonho, despite the oddity of taking Yuri’s phone. Eri… doesn’t follow the cat.  
  
It’s time for the choice, and yet she hasn’t chosen.  
  
He wants to bring her to him, tries to take her to the carousel… but the Wizard’s terms have not been met, and the game has not been properly played. The carousel whirls around with Eri on it alone, whirling and whirling until Eri is woken up by Red again, as if the previous three days never happened.  
  
  
Lance accompanies Eri to school once again.  
  
This time, Eri gives Yeonho attention, and also eats lunch with him.  
  
Yet she accepts Yuri’s new smartphone and chooses to save Lance from Yujin.  
  
And then she buys tea leaves for Yuri.

"This is kind of funny," he repeats. "You don't want to part soon then? Hmm." It's almost as though she has an instinct for just how miserable he intends to make her.

Either that or the person guiding Eri thought the tea leaves were for Lance.

"Alright. I won't tear down your memories just yet. Not just yet."

She ignores the cat. Again.

Again he drags her unconscious mind towards the carousel, and again she slips through his fingers, spinning away three days into the past.

  
  
The next time she chooses to go to school with Yeonho, and gives him her attention.  
  
_So it will be Yeonho, then. Fine!_  
  
And then Eri chooses to sit in a corner, and Lance approaches her.  
  
This is beginning to get truly irritating, but… it’s understandable, he supposes. Eri’s guide on the other side of the screen may not have realized that lunchtime seating was important for the choice.  
  
(He hopes, very much, that the person isn’t so idiotic as to not realize that a choice needs to be made, but… he can’t know for sure)  
  
Once again, Eri accepts Yuri’s gift. Once again, she offers herself to Yujin rather than choose between Lance and Yeonho.  
  
She buys Candied Lemon Tea for Lance, but then doesn’t suggest he join student government.  
  
And then… doesn’t follow the cat. Again.  
  
At this rate… Eri will never remember.  
  
If she keeps on blundering through the same days again and again, he’ll never be able to bring her back to the carousel for good.  
  
He’ll never be able to use the hands he has now to touch her, never be able to feel her warm embrace or see her gaze fixed on him.  
  
He is well and truly bothered.

  
  
The fourth time Eri appears more focused. She goes to school with Yeonho, gives him her attention, manages to find him to eat with him at lunch, refuses Yuri’s gift, chooses to protect Yeonho from Yujin, buys him carrot cake, and…  
  
Ignores the cat.  
  
“Are you stupid?” He blurts out, unable to keep silent any longer. “If you wanted to choose Yeonho you should have paid attention to what he said!”  
  
He can tell they’re surprised, behind their screen, though not much more, which only serves to fuel his anger.

"He talked about that cat, didn't you hear it? How could you have missed it? How could you not have at least _tried_ following the cat one time? If you had, you would have known! Even if you wanted her with Lance, you should have followed that idiotically named cat!"

There's no embarrassment coming from them from what he can tell, but their confusion only seems stronger, with a slight bit of nervousness. Probably just because they didn't expect what seems fictional to them to turn around and start berating them, although truly, he doesn't understand how they managed to get this far without stumbling onto a meaningful choice if only by accident.

They tap a button several times, as if to advance the game. Nothing happens, because he's certainly not going to allow them to fail a _fifth_ time.

 He pauses, letting them see the "..." that indicates that time is no longer frozen before speaking in the most menacing tone he can possibly muster.

"If you choose to make her wander the halls of that academy one more time _without paying attention to Yuri_ , I will make sure you never play this game again."

The carousel spins and spins, the music growing louder and louder...

Until Eri wakes up in her bed, three days earlier.

With any luck, for the last time.

**Author's Note:**

> No disrespect is meant towards any real player who might have made these choices! I spent some time testing how many fail states I could come up with and there's a pretty decent amount especially if you consider how many of the choices are not totally intuitive.


End file.
